


Riverbed

by Stygian_Flood



Category: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: A study in vampires, Forests, Genderless, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, POV Twilight (Linked Universe), Rivers, Twilight References, Twilight lore, Vampires, original vampire - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:14:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29397510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stygian_Flood/pseuds/Stygian_Flood
Summary: After a decade trapped underwater, a vampire wakes and explores their isolated surroundings.
Kudos: 1





	Riverbed

I awoke after a decade of sleeping on the riverbed. Pebbles blanketed my body, weighing my down under the flow of water so that whatever the weather, I lay in the cool mud with my hands bound and my lungs filling with silt.

It was a surprise to feel the sun again, warming the back of my hands and drying my bloated skin. I would have been a horrifying sight, had I been observed that morning, though nobody came, and I slunk into the forest as the day grew brighter. My eyes were slow to adjust to the light, leaving me blind for several days. My bones creaked after years of disuse and my memory gave me no words, merely images and sounds. Some things never came back. My name was one of them.

When I rose from the riverbed, the pebbles that had drifted onto me over the years all fell aside, filling the gap that I left in the mud. By the time I had found my bearings in the forest, my imprint was lost forever, and I had nothing to say for these years but the plastic tie that bound my wrists together. My wasted arms slid out easily, and I kept the piece to fasten back my hair.

My clothes were faded and ruined, though covered me enough to last the weeks in the forest as I learned to live again. I was wearing one shoe when I emerged, and I wondered how many years ago the other had drifted downstream. Had I worn glasses? Carried a wallet? These things were gone forever, or perhaps I had not had these things with me before my submersion.

The birds called and I called back, imitating their sounds until I regained my voice. The sediment in my throat passed with time and my lungs emptied, dragging in fresh air like a fish out of water. But I didn’t need them anymore, so I stopped breathing.

The animal calls I learned fared me well as I hunted rodents up trees and through the undergrowth. When I caught my reflection in a stagnant point, I did not recognise the animal I had become. Neither could I place the sound of my voice, as though I had not known it in my former life. The animals and birds, however, saw me for what I was, a predator. My early fruitless attempts at hunting taught me to listen, to stalk in silence, and to catch the scent of life on the breeze.

My hunger was endless, an immensity that had dragged me from the river when I had first awoken. The water and stones had caged me like a fortress, and once free, I found myself drawn by the scent of anything with a beating heart. The first squirrel I caught surprised me; I bit into its fur to tear out the flesh, only to find myself draining its blood. It did not take long and the animals that followed grew larger as I learned to trust my instincts.

How long I stayed in the forest, I cannot remember. The first days muddled into weeks which faded into months. My first recollection of the outside world hit me one night when I was tracking a lynx’s trail along the boundary of the woods. Suddenly lit by a white light, I cowered in a treetop expecting fire to engulf me, or at least for the appearance of the morning sun. Instead, a lost word found me: _Car._

The car was not moving, and inside sat two men. I was invisible in the tree, so I stayed silent, enchanted by the vehicle. I remembered ones like it, though the memories were too general to tell me anything about the one in front of me. They stayed in the car, talking for several hours. With my newfound hearing, I listened to every word, savouring the lilting, human sounds I had missed. I did not understand what they said, as I became too excited by their company to listen to the words. Before dawn, they stopped talking and started the car’s engine.

I waited and watched them, regretting that I could not find the words to address them, or to explain my newfound desire to speak, to be understood. I knew the shape of the images in their minds, the fragmented thoughts and concepts that were far closer to mine than those of the woodland animals I had been companion to since waking. Before they left, one of the men opened the car door and walked into the woods to urinate.

The car that had contained them through the night was opened to the air, and now their scent hit me like a lightening bolt. I fell out of the tree and dove for the first man, killing him before I could gather my wits. The second, having seen my shadow fly across his horizon, called out for him. He watched me kill his friend, too shocked to react. I dragged him from the car and broke his neck against a tree stump. Their blood tasted like music, a world away from the creatures I had killed in the forest. I learned at once what I had been made for and prided myself in having caught such a bounty.

Nobody came for the car, and I did not have the ability or desire to use it for myself. The engine cut soon cut out, and soon the grasses around it eventually covered the wheels. The bodies decayed and became a feast for summer flies. The scent that had once made me feverishly hungry rotted into an unbearable stench, so I threw them into the river and watched them wash downstream. It wasn’t long before the hunger returned, worse than before, enraged by my first proper meal.

I left the forest after a time, unable to bear another empty meal; the animals that had once sustained me turned to mud in my mouth. The promise of human blood drew me from my haven and up the river, as I swam against the current and ran along the riverbank. No matter the direction I travelled, I reasoned, there would be life. And if I was lucky, human life.

The river led me up a valley, through mountains, and eventually across a plain. In the distance, an unmistakable well of sound, a living city, awaited me.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short piece I wrote while working on a longer Twilight work. It does not relate to the story (yet), though let me know your thoughts on the character and voice, and whether you'd like to read more! I had such fun writing this, inspired by the monster's early experiences in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I may contribute more one-shots in the future. x


End file.
